Bohemia offers defense for Arma 3 devs arrested in Greece

Company calls the situation an "unfortunate and deep misunderstanding."

Last week, it looked like the world of video game development, of all things, might be the cause an international incident when two employees at Czech developer Bohemia Interactive were arrested by Greek officials on suspicion of spying on military bases in the country. After meeting with those developers and their legal representatives, Bohemia is now offering a fuller explanation of what it is calling an "unfortunate and deep misunderstanding."

Bohemia says that employees Ivan Buchta and Martin Pexlar did not actually enter any Greek military bases, as some reports suggested, but simply took video of the international airport that included images of a far off military complex in the distance. The videos and pictures, Bohemia says, were taken from a public road that was accessible to visitors to Greece. "It's very likely that many tourists may have pictures similar to those taken by [Buchta and Pexlar] in their own family albums, without being aware that they put themselves or their families at risk," the company said in a statement.

Bohemia reiterated that the two arrested employees were visiting the Greek island of Lemnos as tourists, and not as part of their official duties in making the game (which includes a fictionalized version of Lemnos as a setting). "Their holiday was a product of their interest in the island, triggered by their work on Arma 3 over the past two years of development," the company said. "The in-game Lemnos is close to completion, and it's far from an identical replication of the real place. It was heavily modified to fit the game's backstory, a purely fictional 2035 setting. It was rescaled to only 75 percent of the real island, and it does not attempt to display any real world military installations situated on the island of Lemnos."

In a message relayed by Bohemia, Buchta and Pexlar mentioned the "tough" conditions of their detainment in the Greek town of Mytilene, but expressed their belief that the situation was "a completely absurd misunderstanding that will certainly be quickly explained." Bohemia says it is making "every possible effort" to support its imprisoned employees, and will accept any and all outside support.

Kyle Orland / Kyle is the Senior Gaming Editor at Ars Technica, specializing in video game hardware and software. He has journalism and computer science degrees from University of Maryland. He is based in Pittsburgh, PA.